Which mid-major CFB program had the best run?

UCF - the young program started the ascent under George O'Leary. His first season was an 0-11 campaign. In 2013, they went 12-1 with a win over Baylor in the Fiesta Bowl. In 2015, O'Leary was gone and the Knights went 0-12. Two years later, they are undefeated and claiming a natty...quite the yo-yo effect. They've cooled a bit as of last year.

Boise St - they really got cooking under Dan Hawkins, going 36-3 from '02-'04. Boise got even better when Chris Peterson took over, with 4 top 10 finishes and 2 undefeated seasons. The Broncos racked up huge wins over Oregon (twice), Oklahoma, Georgia, Virginia Tech, TCU, and came within some shitty kicks of being considered for the BCS title game. They cooled significantly at the end of the Harsin tenure.

Cincinnati - Brian Kelly really put these guys on the map, taking them to two BCS games, Butch Jones managed two 10-win seasons, and if you forget that Tommy Tuberville coached there, that takes you into Luke Fickell's teams. Covid was probably the only thing preventing Cincy from having four straight 11-win seasons. The peak was a blown lead against UGa in the Peach Bowl and a loss to Bama in the CFP. Their good run was halted last year.

TCU - they were only "mid major" from '96 to 2011. The Frogs won at least 10 a total of nine times over that stretch. They were at their best in during the Mountain West days, with many memorable clashes against Boise, Utah, and BYU. Their peak as a mid major was in 2010, going 13-0 and finishing #2 after winning the Rose Bowl.

Utah - Urban Meyer and Kyle Whittingham turned the Utes into a monster. An undefeated and top 5 finish in 2004 and the same in 2008 helped usher this program into the Pac 12 (RIP). I'm sure we all remember a pretty dominating performance against Bama in the Sugar Bowl.

BYU - This is really about LaVell Edwards, but they didn't exactly suck under Bronco Mendenhall, and even Gary Crowton had a 12-win season. Even with an expanded CFP, this will probably be the only G5 to win a natty (1984). In 1996, BYU became the first in the modern-era to play 15 games, and they went 14-1 with their only loss @Washington. The Cougars were innovative, and churned out some great QBs (Steve Young, Jim McMahon, Robbie Bosco, Ty Detmer, Steve Sarkisian, Marc Wilson, and Giff Nielsen).



Personally, I think the most impressive in terms of resources is Boise State, but it's hard to argue against the sustained success of the two schools that played their way into major conferences.